Marco Eimermann

This paper examines the migration, lifestyle, and business motivations of international winter tourism entrepreneurs who have moved to a “low-amenity” rural area in northern Sweden. Low-amenity areas are characterised by economic decline, outmigration, and limited tourism development. Based on qualitative interviews, the research applied a multi-dimensional framework to the study of migrant tourism entrepreneurship, considering personal migration drivers, the value of location-specific amenities, desired consumptive experiences, previous familiarity with the destination, business-related goals, as well as temporal and technological dimensions of mobility and self-employment. The findings suggest that the northern winter and the undeveloped low-amenity character of the place were key factors in migration choices. Consumptive lifestyle interests around counter-urban living and winter outdoor hobbies were prominent, yet there was diversity in terms of business aspirations and considerable seasonal lifestyle–business balancing. Despite noticeable contributions to winter tourism development in the low-amenity north, the study also identified a sense of temporariness and expected onward migration among migrants, raising questions about the longevity of this development.

Migratie wordt vaak bestudeerd aan de hand van push- en pull-factoren. Maar dat volstaat niet, betoogt Marco Eimermann op basis van onderzoek naar Nederlandse gezinnen die naar het Zweedse platteland migreerden. Hoe kom je achter de precieze beweegredenen achter zo’n complex proces als migratie?

This article contrasts Sweden’s tourism policy considering sustainable growth and increased employment with experiences and evaluations of Dutch rural tourism entrepreneurs in Sweden. The study employs notions of countryside capital, investigating the effects on Dutch rural tourism entrepreneurs of experiences with Swedish national tourism policy aims and local populations. A tourism-migration nexus occurs where the entrepreneurs are attracted by countryside capital before migration and use this capital in their firms to attract new tourists after migration. Interviewees tell of experiences which frustrate optimal utilization of countryside capital. In combination with flexible attitudes conceptualized as multi-local living and strategic switching, this results in the risk of losing the entrepreneurs’ socio-economic impetus for lagging rural areas. The article relates this loss to incomers’ rural  tourism business transfers after the initial start-up phase and questions the alleged transition from countrysides of production to countrysides of consumption.

This article aims to examine return reasoning among Dutch lifestyle migrant families in Hällefors, rural Sweden. It addresses two questions: after migrating to Hällefors, what influences return reasoning among Dutch families? What does this imply for return migration and transnationalism within lifestyle migration research? The questions are addressed through analysis of Dutch migrant families’ narratives, collected in 2011 and subsequent years. The findings are related to issues of transnationalism and return migration within lifestyle migration research. As many of these intra-EU urban–rural migrants are seriously considering returning, this study draws attention to temporary lifestyle migration over longer periods.

Lifestyle migration is part of an ongoing quest for a better way of life. More or less affluent migrants moving to a destination with a perceived better climate are studied in the context of social rather than economic motivations. This paper focuses on Dutch families and their decision to move to the rural municipality of Hällefors in the Bergslagen area, Sweden. Such a Nordic destination, actively attracting migrants, has not previously been investigated in the context of lifestyle migration. The purpose of the paper is to examine what factors contribute to the decision to move. The research questions are the following: what are the socio-demographic characteristics of the migrating families? What meanings do the migrants attach to their work environments and places of residence prior to moving? What motivations and expectations have shaped the decision to move? These questions are addressed through an interview study. Results show that the adult family members were mainly born in the late 1950s or in the 1960s. The children were born in the 1990s and early 21st century. According to most respondents, effects of overpopulation and rapid urbanisation, both felt on the work floor and in the living environment, became a serious trigger to leave the Netherlands. Differences between the families consider the character of occupations (within or outside the creative industries) and the length of the decision process. In contrast to some other lifestyle migrant populations, families in this study considered returning as part of their ongoing quest.

"Urban-to-rural consumption-led mobility contributes to restructuring stagnating rural areas in Europe. Against this
background, this article explores international rural place-marketing efforts by Swedish municipalities towards affluent
western European migrants, exemplified by campaigns in the Netherlands. The analysis is based on the concepts of
rural place marketing and lifestyle migration. Research methods employed in this article are observation and a survey
during migration information meetings, followed by interviews with both stakeholders and migrants. The results suggest
that rural municipalities with less favourable or unfavourable geographic conditions are the most actively engaged in
international place-marketing efforts. Participation in migration information meetings and the Internet are the most
commonly used communication strategies. The engaged municipalities are selective in their consideration of target
groups. Attracting even a few of the ‘right type’ of migrants (i.e. families and entrepreneurs from affluent countries)
over the course of some years contributes considerably to maintaining a small municipality’s population and economic
viability. However, although stakeholders claim that the marketing efforts have been effective and statistics point out
that the number of Dutch migrants has increased, it is hard to distinguish the effect of rural place-marketing campaigns
from the myriad possibilities for migrants to gather information about potential destination areas. Therefore, regional
policy makers may consider shifting their focus to actively receiving potential migrants who are in the final stage of
their decision process."

Sweden is internationally renowned for its generous welfare state. However, over the past decades, Changes in economic circumstances and population composition, as well as increasing population concentration in larger urban areas, have imposed new challenges to the Swedish model. What does this imply for individual and collective identity formation? Why and how have some places become more attrctive than others? What individuals or groups prosper from these changes and who looses?
(Co-editored with Anders Trumberg at the Centre for Urban and Regional Studies, Örebro University, Sweden)

This thesis has a twofold aim. First, it studies motivations and decision processes of Dutch families moving to rural Sweden, with a focus on Hällefors municipality in the Bergslagen area. Second, it explores how this migration flow can be conceptualised within migration theory. The results of the study are presented in four papers.

The migrants’ characteristics are explored using variables from the Bergslagen Database. This is complemented with data from interviews with municipality officials, project leaders and Dutch families in rural Sweden.The theoretical framework consists of literature on counterurbanisation, the creative class thesis and lifestyle migration. The creative class thesis has inspired many rural place marketing projects and efforts to attract the ‘right type’ of people to stimulate rural development. Based on the interview study, I argue that lifestyle migration research offers most apt insights into the act of migration within the wider life trajectories of these Dutch families.

The thesis offers new empirical data that suggest amendments to be made to the academic definition of lifestyle migration. Additional contributions consider the novel geographic direction of the migration flow (northwards), the destination (a deprived area) and the structure framing the decision process; a local authority and its deliberate attempts to attract new residents from abroad. The findings suggest transcending four binaries. First, in the context of an integrating EU, the thesis adds international dimensions to the initial story of internal counterurbanisation. Second, these flexibly mobile families transcend and combine issues of urbanity and rurality through access- facilitating technology and cheap means of long distance transport. Third, this study reiterates the importance of production as a complement to consumption in lifestyle migration research. Finally, the thesis adds dynamic issues of transience to the static permanent-temporary binary of migration.